Thinking with Portals

I'll get it. I missed out on P1, and it got stuck on my games-to-get-someday-when-I-have-the-cash list, from which few ever leave. So 2 sounds like a good opportunity to catch up.

I've pre-ordered, obviously (yes, I said obviously). But I refuse to participate in this feast of advertising that is the ARG running. I said it from the start that it is nothing but a huge marketing ploy, and it has become even clearer now that Valve are urging people to buy other games in order to release portal 2 earlier ( http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/ ).

No. Haven't gotten The Orange Box yet either and want to play Portal before Portal II.

Yes. Only question is where I'm getting it from. If a friend of mine is making a visit to Maine, I intend to order the PS3 version from Amazon (I know people with mailboxes in Houlton just for cross-border shopping). That nets you the PC version included, AND Amazon is giving a $20 credit to your account. On top of that the very strong Canadian dollar nets savings. It's so crazy that buying it in Canada is nearly double the price.

If that Maine trip doesn't happen I'll probably just buy the PC version on Steam. That's the one I really want anyway, and buying from Steam also nets me the value of the strong dollar. Buying from retail in Canada is straight out.

Me and my buddy got two copies for 80$ ie deal on steam preorder (also fancy badges in TF2 lol) so were happy.  Hopefully it will unlock Sunday or Monday.  I bet my brain will hurt on the bigger complex partner puzzles.

If I finish my upcoming flash game on Sunday, I'm thinking I may get Portal 2 and perhaps the potato sack.

Otherwise, I'm waiting for it to go on (summer?) sale.

My personal plans:

Get it, definitely. When, no idea. I actually managed to snag the Portal during the (what, last May?) promotion event Valve did where they offered it for free! as a way to advertise Steam's expansion into the Mac market.

Probably the biggest draw for me is the fact that Portal was just so much fun, and Portal 2 looks even more so.

Doesn't hurt that we finally get to figure out what happened to Chell and GLaDOS. Oh, yeah, and funny British-sounding AIs are always awesome.

Like Whiskey, I'mma get mines but i don't know when. 

I want Portal 2 so bad because it offers the freedom of movement that 3-d platformers of the ps1/ps2 days had. You know, games like Crash Bandicoot, Ape Escape, Jak and Daxter. Games that make you feel like an acrobat rather a tank.

I think it's good for us PC gamers to pick this up (if you can afford it of course) because (I'm assuming) most of us here are strategy gamers. This is the complete opposite of many of the games I pick up these days and I think I'll be able to enjoy more the somewhat fresh experience. 

I will definitely play this at some point, but not at the price point its launching at.

I have to echo this sentiment; at Portal 2's current price, I don't feel it's economically viable for me to purchase it.

Especially since I still have yet to buy a computer that can properly run DoW2.

I don't plan on buying it. I appreciate that Valve's done something new in the industry and they're pushing that new thing forward and all, but Portal didn't draw me in all that much. The familiar engine was really all that had me going. Then hearing "The cake is a lie!" in every other part of the internet turned what was an alright thing into a meh thing for me.

And now this ARG's just completely shot any chances of me getting Portal 2 on my own, reasons already stated in Heavenfall's post.

Ya! Fuck Valve for providing 13 indie companies with success. What fascists!

portal. steam. bluh.

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, I suppose, but I really don't think Steam is all that bad. Sometimes it can be annoying, sure. But it's still a pretty good service that provides pretty good games.

Steam is very meh. PITA to use compared to most programs. Valve 'Support' however is godawful.

As for Portal II, probably will end up with it on XBox eventually to play multiplayer. Sounds so much more fun than the original.

Consdiering how little Valve thinks of the 360 now, that's the one version I'd avoid like the plague.

First, they get 30% of everything sold on steam.

Second, they'll make it back a hundred times over from creating buzz around portal 2. The purpose of the ARG is not to make them money, it is to advertise their release to make them money.

During the first part of the ARG it was "believable" that this wasn't just another moneygrab. Then they launched the second part with a HUGE FUCKING AD telling the players to go buy the games to get portal 2 earlier. Then it wasn't "believable" any longer.

If EA had done something similar, people would just be laughing it off and it wouldn't be on every forum everywhere all the time. But it's not EA, it's Valve. And that means they have a lot of Good Will for previous games. To me, a lot of that Good Will got used up in this cashgrab ARG.

Hell, I see many people doing the ARG complaining, and they're about as dedicated as you can get. Days of efforts to push the release a few hours earlier?

Maybe instead of complaining, people should just ignore it. That you can do something to speed up the release doesn't mean you need to.

If gamers weren't so similar to crack addicted morons in need of a constant fix, this would be a very different industry.

Why did it post my halfway-finished paragraph without any input from me?

I'm not talking about the ARG. And yes I realize Steam makes 30% of all sales. But you're looking at this from a short term perspective. Yes it is cheesy and crude to say "buy these games to release our game" but what Valve is doing (besides making money) is directly pumping resources into the indie community and into the future of the PC platform.

I find it extremely refreshing in an age where larger companies are placing priority on consoles and others are declaring the PC as a dying platform to see such action to helping ensure a prosperous future for PC gaming.

And like Tridus said above, no one is being forced into buying the games.

While I have no interest in buying games to speed up the release of Portal, I can say that one of the games on the list (Wonderful End of the World) is pretty amazing, kind of like Katamari Damarci but much much cooler. If other indie games on the list are of equally high quality then some of those games might be worth checking out regardless of their tie to portals release.

I actually really liked the ARG.  The sale tie in to Portal 2's release is a really, really good idea on Valve's part - they get a lot of increased traffic because they are releasing a new game, and are tying those sales in with sales of other indie games.  That I could play these indie games and see Portal references, and get to participate in Portal 2's release, is really cool.  Yes, Valve makes money, so it isn't "noble" of them, but it isn't evil, either - just a good idea and a good campaign.  Welcome to capitalism.

They were straight forward with the sale, they are good games for good prices (I'll personally vouch for seven games on the list), and the "early release" isn't actually all that early.

Seems like a suckers bet to buy any Valve game at day 1.  Not because the game will be bad, I imagine it will be pretty fun, but because it will probably be on sale for 25-50% this summer and 75% off during Christmas.  It's a single player game, so there's really no rush to own to day 1 IMO.

You could apply that line of reasoning to almost any game, including Sins (where you happen to be posting).

I'm going to buy it sometime soon, unless you have concrete information that it will go on sale if I wait, but simply because I have a friend who keeps bugging me to play one of the Portal games and I kind of want to shut him up.